7- Quick takes - the Lenten Birthday Edition

1. My hospital bill for getting a 6 cm lipoma taken off came to about $2500 dollars, give or take. If they had their prices listed somewhere I'm sure I would have decided just to LIVE WITH IT! But as they couldn't tell me ahead of time and now we have the amount there is nothing left to do but pay it. Since I am getting a tax refund I asked the billing office if I could get a discount by paying the entire amount. Surprisingly the answer was no!!? So we will be paying this sucker off one month at a time- and why not since there is no interest on a medical bill!

2. That doesn't include the surgeon and anesthesia - I'm just going to pay those because I'll never be able to keep that all straight!

3. So Noah just turned 13. His birthday is on March 25, which is on the feast of the annunciation. That's a pretty cool birthday to have! But when your birthday falls on a Lenten Friday, it doesn't seem too appropriate to have a big party. So we had his party almost a week early on a Saturday! He and two of his friends and his brothers went to Laser Quest and had a blast! Interestingly 21-year-old Calvin was the first one to arrive and seemed the most excited about the event! I guess Laser questing is fun at 13 or 21! I guess our group did get some looks as the kids were 21, 18, 15, three 13 year old boys and then pretty little Izzy who felt that even though she was a girl, she should be able to play too! After shooting at each other with laser guns for an hour, it was home for the partay!!

(and I'm not editing this - the place looked lived in !)

4. Izzy wanted to make Noah's birthday cake. Izzy is the kind of girl who watches all the cake shows on t.v. A few weeks ago I went into the computer room and she quickly tried to change the screen on the computer. Alarmed and suspicious I checked the history and found that my precious girl had been watching hours of Cake Boss!!So she kept bugging Noah about what kind of cake he wanted, and because he didn't know and because he was tired of her pestering him he yelled out, "I want an Octopus cake!!"

Izzy was delighted and got right to work on it!

5. I had never heard of fondant before. When I was growing up we just iced cakes! But these cake shows use fondant all of the time! I had no idea where to even look for it, but one day I was in the craft store and I found a lot of it! So I bought some for Izzy to use on the octopus cake - She was so delighted I thought it was her birthday!

6. Here is the finished product!

7. A few days later, Mr. Pete has had birthday. He didn't want a cake, he wanted a brownie with ice cream and we aim to please!

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It seems that one of the biggest events in confirmation preparation in this country is the letters of support to be given to the confirmation candidates during their mandatory retreats.

I have three such letters saved on this blog:

Confirmation letter to my daughterConfirmation letter to my fourth sonConfirmation letter to to my third son
I've asked my children what they remember about the letter they got from me and their dad, and also what they remembered about the letters they received.
The answer was not much, or at least nothing specific. In general they were happy to have gotten a bag full of letters and there was a sense of feeling loved and supported. I guess that's the main thing - for them to have a sense that this is an important step in their spiritual growth, and that people they know, love and respect have taken the time out of their lives to let them know that!
So here are some tips on procuring and writing letters for young confirmation candidates. Start thinkin…

March 5 and 6, 2010
My Dearest Gabe;
I can’t express to you enough what a wonderful gift you have been to your father and me from the very moment you were born. You have always been such a beautiful, good natured, fun loving and enjoyable baby, little boy and now young man. I am so proud of you and so honored to be your mother.

You know Gabe, you have always been a big guy. When I was pregnant with you the midwife was always amazed at how big you were getting inside of my stomach. And when you came out (with much effort!) you were as big as some 3 month olds! You have stayed ahead of the curve in size for kids your age. I think it is because God has given you a big heart. You are so full of love and joy you needed a big heart to keep it all in and a big body to hold it all. You are my gentle giant.

I know God has a special plan for you and I look forward to helping you figure out what that might be. Always hang on to the memory of these times, remember all that your father and I…

In a few weeks you will be confirmed as a full member of the Catholic Church. Congratulations! I know that you have really worked hard to understand and learn as much about your Catholic faith as you could before receiving this sacrament.
On your retreat there are a few things your Dad and I would like you to remember -

You were our fourth son in a row but you have always been a unique little boy. I love your bright blue eyes, all of those freckles and dimples. I guess God really wanted you to tap into your Celtic Heritage!

I love how you are always ready with a quick smile for everyone.

I loved how even when you were a baby you would cry when a baby on t.v. was crying, or if a kid outside was crying or basically when you saw anyone crying - you didn't even have to know why - you just did. That's great empathy and you still have that today. Don't lose that. It's a great gift to be able to relate to people even when they are at their lowest.15 R…

This is from a discussion I participated on over at the now defunct Birth Control and Catholic Church Forum aka the boardIlovetocommenton. This was a very pro-contraception, dissident Catholic discussion board. I originally posted this on January 21, 2004. Their points initalics, and my responses are highlighted.

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One key point we keep making on the discussions is about how and why the sex act is actually used by married couples, and in this sense, there is absolutely no difference between NFP and ABC in the acts couples make use of (assuming they're using NFP to avoid conception). I would disagree. The is a key element in the practicing Catholic couple's use of NFP in the marital act, is their respectful understanding and acceptance of the teaching of the Catholic Church as well as their submission to that in obedience to Christ's teaching. This is something that is fundamentally missing from the marital act with artificial contraception.

I cannot believe that you are old enough to make your confirmation!! The time has flown by for me! When I was growing up, I always wondered what my own daughter would be like. And I was sure that I would have a daughter because I was the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter!

But after having your four brothers in a row, even I was beginning to have my doubts! But God had you in the plan after all!

I was amazed when you were born - at your beauty and femininity -at just at how lucky we were to have you!

You were a special surprise too because you came only 15 months after your brother Noah! But as hard as it was having two babies at the same time, I love how close you two have always been, and grateful that you would always have each other to love and count on.

Of course you know you were named for your grandpa Isadore - whom I sure you would have loved very much. In some ways you are very much like him - quietly keeping things to …

God's Not Dead is an uplifting and enjoyable Christian-based movie appropriate for students from elementary school through college and their parents. We went with two of my teenage children and my 8-year-old daughter and we all enjoyed the movie and have had many discussions about it since.

We enjoyed it as a family, but I would also recommend this movie for church youth groups and homeschooling groups. I hope to buy the DVD when it comes out to donate it to our parish.

The premise of the movie involves a freshman philosophy student's challenge to defend the existence of God to his adversarial and intimidating philosophy teacher and his classmates. The stories of other characters (a preacher, a selfish business man, a young woman caring for her mother with dementia, a successful blogger who faces a devastating diagnosis, and a Muslim convert to Christianity) are woven into the plot line until they are…